Thayir(Curd) Vadai

This is my mom's favorite snack item and is generally had as an accompaniment with the main course tiffin or as appetizer. I was thinking that this might be an elaborate procedure and never bothered to try it until I came across the recipe by Menutoday. Click here for her recipe. I followed the recipe exactly as she has explained. Thanks MT for yet another great recipe. I got to say I fell in luv with the pics of my curd vadai, so couldn't stop with just one pic. Oh well, u guys try this and let me know how it came out.

Minestrone soup

Minestrone soup is the name given to the famous Italian soup which is cooked with vegetables, beans, and/or pasta. This can be made with any veggies available readily and is cooked by slowly simmering the veggies in the stock with garlic, Italian seasoning & basil. I generally use a can of diced tomatoes and add water for the veggie stock.I remember reading somewhere that people in Italy at one time believed that minestrone soup would cure most aches & pains. Oh well, all I can think of is with all those veggies & garlic, it definitely ought to be good for health:)
Ingredients:
Onion- 1 big
Chopped Garlic- 2 or 3 tbsp
Diced Tomatoes- 1 can
Chopped Vegetables- 3 cups (I used carrots, celery, green beans, zuchinni)a
Red kidney beans- 1/2 can
small sea shell pasta- 1/2 cups
Italian seasoning- 2 tbsp
Basil- 1 tbsp
Black pepper- 1 tbsp
Oil- 1 tsp

Saute Onion and garlic in 1 tsp of oil and then add all vegetables, saute lightly for a min (do not let the veggies turn brown), then add the canned diced tomatoes and enough water to form the stock. Add some salt, cover and cook in low flame. The vegetables have to be slowly simmered in the stock.This will easily take at least 10 mins. When vegetables are almost cooked, add the kidney beans, pasta & the spices (Italian seasoning, basil & pepper) and let this cook again for another 7-8 mins or until pasta is cooked. Use a deep pan like stock pot so that there is enough room for water to be added. Add more salt & pepper if needed at the time of serving depending on each one's taste.
Sprinkle some grated cheese if u like at the end. I don't care for cheese on my soup, so I skipped that.

Optional:
1. Any kind of stock (chicken or beef) can be used for this, even though this soup has mainly veggies. For this reason, I always ask the waitress in restaurants what kind of stock has been used in the soup since I'm a vegetarian.

Upma Kozhukattai

This was my favorite tiffin item that my mom used to make very rarely. I knew that it involved washing the rice, drying it on a paper towel,dry grinding it etc. etc so I didn't have the patience to go through the elaborate procedure of making it until I came across the simpler recipe for this using Idly Rava(available in most indian stores) by Nandita of Saffrontrail. Click here for Nandita's recipe. I followed the recipe exactly the same way as she did.
Variations:
1. I have also seen some people soak 1 tbsp of tur dhal, jeera, red chilly,& pepper and grind and add it to the boiling water before adding the idly rava. This should taste good too.
2. I came across this other recipe for upma kozhukatai using oat grits by Lakshmik of Veggie cuisine which I'm yet to try but thought was a very good healthy choice.Click here for Lakshmik's recipe.